RTL-Day Minus 8: The Germans Did It!!! And Imaginary Battleships Used to Control Kiwis

Interesting. It turns out that Samoans drive on the right because of brief Germanity (1900 -- 1914). I did not know that. Here's a flock o'Kiwis, fresh from NZ, who occupied Samoa in 1914, and proudly representin' Kiwiland by holding the captured German flag. More background on the Kiwi invasion....From that source, we get the following reason why Samoans should be keep driving on the right:

According to Source 8, several hundred New Zealand soldiers, bored by having nothing to do on this remote island [Samoa; he means Samoa], broke into some warehouses at the harbour on 26 December 1914 and "liberated" large quantities of alcohol, from which they have been barred since the occupation began.

According to Source 9, the situation went quite out of hand, and Colonel Robert Logan had to invent a threat from the German battlecruiser SMS VON DER TANN was observed in the Pacific Ocean heading for Samoa - a situation similar to the appearance of SMS SCHARNHORST and SMS GNEISENAU - in order to regain control of his force. This threat sobered -up the soldiers and they were ordered into the hills surrounding Apia to dig trenches and other fortifications.

The folks from the Commonwealth in the area, both Oz and NZ, have over 6 million words for "vomit," because they love to drink too much and then take their half out of the middle, ignoring lanes altogether. So, saying Kiwis drive on the left, or right, is simply a description of the lane they are too drunk to stay in. THAT hardly matters, I admit. But leave the Samoans alone, you Kiwi bludgers.

Article with some recent observations on the switch from right to left lanes.